Late for their Check Up

Posted on Mon Jun 26th, 2017 @ 5:16pm by Lieutenant JG Alyssa Matthews

Mission: Down on the Upside
Location: Deck 10 - Intermediate Care Clinic

ON:

Alyssa lead her daughter and holographic Nanny to the medical bay, stepping off the lift onto deck 10 heading for the Intermediate Care. They walked down the hall together Sara yawning a bit tired wondering where they were going. it wasn't until they were inside that Sara realized they were there to see doctors. Sara turned around and tried to walk right back out but Nikki held her little hand tightly to keep her from escaping. Sara had little fondness for hospitals they always held sick or dying people when she had to go there.

"May I help you?" the nurse at the reception desk asked, smiling at the child.

Sara smiled back nervously

"I'm Lieutenant Alyssa Matthews, and this is my Daughter, Sara we're new to the station and need to have our physicals. I think Sara has an actual appointment."

The nurse brought up the schedule on her desk monitor. "It says here that Dr. Russell was scheduled to see Sara but he had an emergency surgery," she said. "Dr. Nichols is on call today. If you will have a seat over there," she pointed to the row of chairs off to the side of the waiting room, "I'll let her know you're here." With that the nurse got up and disappeared into the back. A couple of minutes later she returned at the door and smiled. "You can come on back," she said, standing off to the side of the doorway so that Alyssa and her daughter could enter the IC Clinic.

Alyssa took Sara's hand and lead her through the door, while Nikki waited in the waiting room for them. Alyssa smiled at the nurse as the did so.

The nurse led them to a large cubicle and asked, "who's going to be first?" She patted the biobed then activated the monitors.

"Let's go ahead and have Sara go first.." She started but her daughter moved to hide behind her. "Sara come on it's just a bio scan." She said gently leading her daughter back around her.

"No needles?" Sara asked biting her lower lip.

"I don't think so, just the biobed for now." Alyssa said and her daughter gave a nod. Alyssa put her hands under her daughters arms and lift her onto the bio bed.

"Dr. Nichols will be in in a minute," the nurse said and disappeared.

"Thank you." Alyssa said with a smile.

Cara walked into the cubicle and smiled, first at Alyssa, whom she had already met, then at Sara. "Hello, ladies. I'm Dr. Nichols," she said.

"Hello again, Dr. Nichols, This is my daughter Sara, Sara this is our Chief Medical Officer." Alyssa introduced them.

"Hi, your not going to use any needles are you? I don't like needles." She pouted at the Doctor.

Cara looked at Sara's file then turned back to the child. Smiling she said, "Nope. No needles. It looks like you have had all of your vaccinations." She used a hand held tablet that produced a 3D image of the child's skeleton and internal organs. "Have you started school yet?" she asked Sara as she looked at the images on the tablet.

"Mommy says I start Monday." She grinned excitedly, but was staring in fascination with her 3D image of her skeleton, "is that me?" She asked amazed.

Cara turned the tablet so Sara could see it better. "It sure is," she said. "That is what keeps you standing up." She flipped the image to show Sara her abdominal organs. With the flick of her finger she enlarged the image of Sara's stomach. Playfully poking Sara's stomach she said, "and that is your tummy."

Sara actually giggled, she liked this doctor, she knew how to have fun with her job. "wow, I'm a skeleton mommy." Sara giggled excitedly.

"Yes you are." Alyssa smiled giving Cara a thankful look for putting Sara at ease.

Cara set the tablet on the utility tray and placed her hands on the child's throat. Gently, she palpated the glands on the sides of the girl's neck. When Sara didn't seem to mind she smiled and said, "well, Miss Sara....you are a picture of health." She took a sucker out of her labcoat pocket and handed it to Sara as she lifted the child off of the biobed. "Now it's your Mommy's turn," she said.

"Yay!" Sara said happier with the sucker than with her turn being over and it being mommy's turn she skipped out of the room to her Nanny's side while Alyssa moved to take her place.

"Thanks for giving her a sucker, you've made a friend for life now." Alyssa said softly smiling at Cara.

Cara smiled and held her hand up to block her mouth from Sara. "It's sugar free," she whispered with a wink then patted the biobed. "Have a seat," she said as she switched charts on the terminal. "So anything I should know about since your last physical?" she asked Alyssa as she cleared the screen of the tablet and began moving it over Alyssa.

Alyssa smiled glad that it was sugar free, not that Sara would mind too much but she may pout a bit. "Not since my last physical no." Alyssa admitted as she moved to sit on the bio bed. she'd been given a clean bill of health on her last trip to the doctor's office and that was a week or two before the trip to the Delta Quadrant.

As with Sara, Cara switched views on the tablet so she could see Alyssa's internal organs. "Are you on any birth control?" she asked as she focused her attention to Alyssa's reproductive organs.

"I am," Alyssa said softly though she had been on birth control before she'd gotten pregnant with Sara. At least until she had learned she was pregnant then she had stopped it for the pregnancy.

"Ever experience any side effects?" Cara asked, studying the image of Alyssa's ovaries. "Like cramping or painful menstruation?"

"Non of that, but I was using it when I conceived Sara, she wasn't planned and I still had my period during my pregnancy, I did not realize I was pregnant until I started to gain weight." She admitted.

"Because of your Caitian DNA....normal Human contraception tends to vary in effectiveness and...sometimes...can cause some uncomfortable side effects," Cara said, shutting off the tablet. "Can I get you to lie back please?" she asked, with a reassuring smile.

"Hmm, I didn't know my doctor did not seem to think it would be too much of a problem." Alyssa said as she moved to lay back on the bed. She hadn't worried too much about it because of her doctor, though now she wondered if she should have worried more.

Once Alyssa had lay back, Cara, gently palpated the area around Alyssa's uterus while watching Alyssa's face for any sign of discomfort. With no reaction she smiled and helped Alyssa sit up then moved so she could press Alyssa's back around her kidneys. ...this time expecting some reaction. "I'm seeing signs that your left kidney is a bit enlarged,' she explained. "Have you had any trouble urinating?"

"Not really, sometimes I'm too busy to keep an eye on if there is an irregularity." She admitted. "could it be nothing?" Alyssa asked hoping it was nothing.

"It could be a simple infection," Cara said. "It could also be a side effect of your current contraception. I would like to draw some blood to get a better idea of what we are dealing with. If it is just an infection we can clear it up in a couple of days with antibiotics. I do want to put you on a different contraception. One designed more specifically for your mixed DNA."

"Sure, whatever you think is necessary." Alyssa said trusting that Cara only had her best interest in mind when it comes to Alyssa's health.

Cara took a hemo-extractor out of one of the cabinet drawers and set it up with the required tube for the test she wanted run on it. As she walked back over to the biobed, she looked down at Sara and smiled. With a wink she said, "should we give Mommy a sucker if she doesn't cry?"

Sara giggled, "I think we should because mommy is always good about needles!" Sara said though knew if Mommy got the sucker she'd give it to her.

Cara placed the instrument over the inside of Alyssa's elbow and let the instrument locate a vein, then she pressed the trigger and a needle inserted itself into Alyssa's arm and the instrument began to fill the tube. When it was finished it retracted the needle and beeped. Cara removed it, placed a cotton ball over the small puncture mark and taped it down. "All finished," she said.

Alyssa was no fan of needles either, she just closed her eyes and let the doctor do her job then smiled at her daughter sweetly. "Thank you Doctor." She said.

Cara handed the vial to the nurse and said, "I want to start her on an Afatipryl regiment, beginning today. And get that to the lab. I want the results STAT." As the nurse hurried off, Cara turned back to Alyssa. "You will get a 10CC injection of Afatipryl once a month for three months then a 25CC injection six months later and then you will only need the injections once a year," she explained. "If, at anytime you experience any of the side effects listed on the information the nurse will bring back with the hypospray I want to know about them. We may have to adjust your dosage. And if you ever decide you want to get pregnant, we will need to taper you off of the medication. You can't just quit cold turkey."

Alyssa listened to Cara carefully, she always made it a point to know what her doctor is telling her so she didn't forget or miss something. "I understand, Thank you." Alyssa said softly.

The nurse came back into the cubicle and handed a printout to Alyssa then she prepared a hypospray. Placing the instrument against Alyssa's neck, she pulled the trigger and the medication was injected through the skin with the force of air. The nurse gently massaged the point of entry so that the muscle wouldn't react by balling up.

"Unless you have any questions, we're all done here," Cara said with a smile as the nurse began to put instruments away. "I will see you in a month for your next injection."

"No questions, I'll see you in a month." Alyssa agreed moving to get off the bio-bed so she could take her child by the hand the nanny was still waiting for them in the waiting area.